Denial In Miami!

I wouldn’t want to be in Starlin Castro‘s shoes right now. After being one game away from the World Series on a team with good energy he gets shipped off to play in Miami for Derek Jeter’s train wreck. He sure seemed upset when he was traded for Giancarlo Stanton but he never got THAT upset about it. Wait…didn’t he?

Almost two months ago we wrote CASTRO WANTS OUT OF MIAMI! At the time the story was that guys like J.T. Realmuto and Christian Yelich were demanding for Miami to trade them away and then shortly after Castro did too. It made sense….it still does. No competitive baseball player wants to play on Derek Jeter‘s rebuilding project. The New York Post even made a big dramatic story and drew it up as former Yankees not getting along at all.

Fast forward almost two months and Castro is telling a different story, read it HERE. Now Castro is looking for the bright side of the situation and not complaining. Now he is accepting that this is all just part of the business but he does say he never demanded a trade.

“I never told nobody this. Nothing happened from my mouth. I’m good now. I don’t control this. I didn’t want to be traded by [the Yankees], but this is my house. The only thing I can control is be on the field every day and play hard.”

So is it true, are reports that he demanded a trade not accurate? The New York Post never had any direct quotes from Castro saying it. Even if he didn’t say it, he had to be a little salty. Maybe he was THINKING it. No one wants to go from a contender to….the Marlins. I can’t even say a non-contending team. Anywhere is better than Miami right now.

Or is Castro just trying to make the best of a bad situation for the time being? Derek Jeter doesn’t want Castro. His goal is to slash payroll, gut the team and operate on as few dollars as possible as they slowly rebuild. Castro was only sent to Miami to offset a very small part of Stanton’s contract. The only thing Jeter wants and could gain from Castro is trading him for some more prospects. Castro would be a good pickup for a contending team and Jeter knows it.

For now I think Jeter is sitting back and waiting for someone interested to take Castro. It’s funny to think that Castro’s $23 million paid over two years is the second highest Marlin’s player behind former Yankee Martin Prado, who happens to be injured right now so Jeter isn’t getting rid of him for now.

So does Castro know he is just a bargaining chip to Jeter? Is he just trying to “play nice” for the time being? Who knows but once again Castro is on a team that is “growing up” at least he is trying to find that silver lining.

Thank goodness the drama we have in the Bronx is postseason related, something Jeter and the Marlins won’t be experiencing for a really long time…..if ever.

–Jeana Bellezza
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj